#spellbinding studies

[thecheshireninja]

one of the biggest reasons i’m salty about Briar’s arc petering out in the show is that Sleeping Beauty is the fairytale about destiny.

she was fated to die from birth. even with that sentence lessened, she has no choice in the matter, no way out—when the princess turns sixteen she will prick her finger on a spindle and fall into a deep sleep, no matter what.

and the thing is they try. her parents try everything they can to keep it from happening—going so far as to destroy all the spinning wheels in the kingdom (which likely created a massive economic crisis in the process but it’s fairytale world so they probs have a few golden geese in the storehouses just for this occasion). but in the end it still happens, because the princess still meets the old woman with the spinning wheel, and she was raised well enough that she isn’t afraid to be curious and ask if she can try it. in the end, she will always prick her finger and die.

others have said it before me, but Briar is the pawn in her story, much like Raven. unlike Raven though, it isn’t society’s expectations that made her one—it’s in her story itself. she essentially inherited a tale about the futility of evading fate. no matter which way they took it, if they only just went a little further—it would have gone so hard.

as much as i adoreee Shannon Hale’s trilogy, i really wish there could have been a book with Briar’s POV. she would have hit it out of the park. (and in the end we never got a single Briar book at ALL.) Sleeping Beauty is my favorite of the “Big Five” and also my favorite of Disney’s adaptations, so i’m biased and will never shut up about it.

[thecheshireninja]

it's really interesting how different Snow White is in the books from the show, and it changes quite a bit how you could understand Apple's character. we all know the show version: lowkey antagonistic, puts an unhealthy amount of pressure on her daughter, hates the Evil Queen. even her design is cold and severe.

but the books describe a separate character. she appears in a key scene in The Unfairest of Them All when Apple is visiting home during Yester Day (a day when students have to interview graduated fairytale characters about their stories). right off the bat you can tell their relationship is a lot better than the one displayed in the show; they're a lot more affectionate with each other, and Apple clearly feels at ease around her mother. the main impression i get whenever i reread this scene (and believe me i have read it a lot) is that Snow seems like... a good mom. she doesn't act disappointed or accusatory toward Apple for Raven's refusal to sign. Apple to some extent considers it a personal failure that she didn't persuade Raven to sign; Snow doesn't express any sentiment of the sort. she gets straight to the heart of the matter, which is the problem of division between the Royals and Rebels and the chaos that will undoubtedly ensue (and already has, at this point in the book).

in fact, it's ironic that Snow doesn't address who's in the wrong in this matter, because that's exactly what Apple is focused on. she strongly believes that going off-script is pure evil, and she wants Snow to confirm that for her--which Snow doesn't do. because Snow is a leader, and she knows that pointing fingers is not going to solve a crisis. her advice to Apple is to focus on bringing people back together first, which is ultimately the key to Apple's character arc in this book.

Apple is frustrated by this conversation because Snow's advice seems useless to her: "Just keep smiling." that isn't a very concrete solution to any of the rampant problems she's facing right now; she leaves believing Snow doesn't understand the magnitude of these problems. i don't think that's fully the case, because Snow knew the Evil Queen and had to have witnessed some part of her rampage, which would have been extremely chaotic, but we don't have details on it so that's neither here nor there.

Snow's most important advice to Apple was the line she got cut off, which is "And when you look back, look deeper." based on the context and the conclusion of Apple's arc in this book, i can guess she meant: look at them for who they are, not for who you think they are. in other words, not for who the stories say they are--which is the lens through which Apple is used to judging the rest of the world. that's indeed how she changes and grows by the end of the book, because she learns to stop assigning the roles of "hero/villain/Royal/Rebel" to her peers, and instead think of them for the people they are underneath. Lizzie, a kind-hearted girl who loves to create; Daring, who's eager to help her if she just says the word; Sparrow, who prides himself on his thieving skills; and Kitty, who Apple knows would do anything for Maddie. she even gets Cerise and Duchess to work together.

as a kid i didn't really get the ending of this book; it felt like no one had really solved the destiny conflict. no one had managed to point out how the Royals were in the wrong or fixed everything that was awful about the Rebels' situations. but that would have been too simple, which is crazy for a book written for kids, but that's what makes it so good--instead of trying to eliminate the problem and wrap everything up in a neat little bow, which might have felt really good to read but probably would have fallen very flat, the story acknowledges the problem is bigger than that and people are more complicated than that. Apple is not the villain of the story; she's just a young girl trying to take responsibility (something Raven actually has trouble doing in comparison, which is another reason they balance each other out). Snow gave good advice.

i sort of went off on a tangent there, but to circle back to Snow--in the books her relationship with EQ is very obviously not the same as in the show, as we don't know if they were even in the same class. it's portrayed as something much closer to what the original dynamic of Snow White and her evil stepmother would have been. Snow does not condemn Raven for any of her actions; she even expresses her own doubt about the way Ever After works, about how "if there's no story, it rarely happens." Apple fixates on that statement as explaining why it's bad to go off-script, but what Snow actually seems to be implying is that the lack of freedom in that area is troubling. in a sense she almost seems sympathetic to Raven.

granted. DG was set after the destiny conflict was resolved and Snow's main problem there was her daughter's popularity. however even in the books Apple's position of leadership is being threatened simply by the division between Royals and Rebels, and Snow doesn't seem at all bothered by that. but like, ultimately the books and the show were telling two different stories by that point so it isn't really worth arguing over, imo. i actually quite like Snow White in the books as i always found her interesting. of course, as people like to remind me even though the fact should speak for itself <3 the show's writing had regressed considerably by DG which explains why that one was so one-dimensional.

[thecheshireninja]

i've been seeing a lot of people argue that the "Royals vs. Rebels" thing no longer makes sense post-W2W. i don't entirely agree, though i understand that part of it was there for marketing purposes.

in general i don't much like the idea of overusing labels defined by personal ideals (that makes it easy to dismiss/dehumanize those who disagree with you, which is definitely something that we see happen in EAH, or to apply inaccurate generalizations). but we're humans, and we're kind of addicted to categorizing ourselves, and most of the time it's harmless and even helpful, so i don't think that "choosing a side" in EAH is necessarily a bad thing, either.

so, what people seem to be saying is that "Royals and Rebels" should no longer exist after destiny has been abolished. the main reason they give for this is that Royals were on the side that meant to follow the story at all costs, aka "the wrong side." i agree with that reasoning; the Royals lost the discourse. however. HOWEVER.

not all Royals wanted to perpetuate "destiny" from the start. i do not believe that all Royals supported the idea that everyone should stick to their stories--that's something only a few were shown to explicitly express throughout the series. remember the webisode "Blondie Branches Out"? Cupid says a very important line here that i think summarizes the in-universe definition of "Royal":

"Blondie, Royals make choices too. They choose to follow tradition and honor their stories."

for some reason a lot of people seem to have the impression that Royals are against choice and free will, when i don't think that's what it's meant to imply at all. Cupid said this pretty early on in the story, and Poppy O'Hair and Kitty Cheshire are good examples of other characters that were probably meant to embody this, even before the destiny conflict was "resolved." I put that in quotes because as Dragon Games exists to remind us, it obviously wasn't resolved very well Poppy's case was a lot more unserious tbh, but the point made is that following tradition and progressing forward are actually not in conflict. in other words, the labels "Royal" and "Rebel" do not fundamentally contradict each other, but are meant to be different paths that a person can choose to take. that's like... that's literally what freedom means, actually. the original conflict was never between Royal and Rebel; it was about the freedom to choose how to live your life.

so, in my opinion, Royals shouldn't be considered irrelevant after destiny was abolished. i'd argue they're actually even more relevant now that Rebels exist and the possibility of losing stories becomes realizable. i mean, new stories can only be written with the help of old ones. the existence of tradition is nonnegotiable; it's only when it's indiscriminately enforced upon people that it becomes an issue. the writers of EAH understood this, the actual Royals (not including Apple...) understood this, Rebels like C.A. Cupid understood this! after all, Ever After High is a show about fairytales, all of which are more than a hundred years old!!

now Apple's arc in Dragon Games, which deals with her fear over not being able to realize her destiny with Raven no longer slotting in as the Evil Queen, explores the aftermath to some degree. but that is a personal arc, not something shared across all Royals. Holly O'Hair, for example, is a Royal because she loves stories and is excited to live through her own (honestly, as a writer, i can kinda understand why). Royals like Meeshell Mermaid came later, so while we aren't given much insight as to why they're content with their legacies, it's likely because it's nice for them and they don't care all that much for nowww. which makes sense for royalty, if you think about it. especially as teenagers hello?? have we forgotten Cerise's iconic "we're in high school, for Grandma's sake"??

tldr: the term "Royal" in-universe refers to someone who, as Cupid explained so succinctly, chooses to follow tradition and honor their stories, in their own way.

that's how i see it. i have many more thoughts on this (DG Apple, the Darling conundrum, the disaster of a human that is Duchess Swan, etc) that i'll hopefully be able to delve into one by one eventually. also remember: context is key. not everything is gonna have real-world parallels. i might have to do a separate post on that too

[thecheshireninja]

Speaking of things mentioned ONLY in the books that seemed to hint at something bigger: Is it possible that Hunter's little sister, Fern, was destined to become the next Little Red Riding Hood?

Here me out: in Shannon Hale's books, Ramona or any possible future big bad wolf is never mentioned. Since her books feature characters who never appear in the series (Coral Witch, Nathan Nutcracker,in theory Darling too), It means that there was a deliberate choice on Shannon Hale's part not to have a bad wolf for Cerise, because Cerise herself is the wolf.; something the SCC doll seemed to allude too. However, another important thing is also stated about Cerise in the books - the world belives that her mother married the Huntsman, so much so that Raven points out "So you are Hunter's sister?!"

Now, in addition to being an interesting glimpse into how the world of EAH works, because it suggests that cross-fairytale relationships are allowed for "commoners", as long as they each have one child to fill their role (and it actually explains better some strange family trees, like the One of the Beautys). It does make you think: why mention the Huntsman if the village HAS other men?

Why hinted that the future Red and Huntsman are siblings? Why emphasize the fact that Hunter's little sister is considerably younger than him? Perhaps because the big bad wolf should be an adult compared to Little Red Riding Hood, who is a child,and indeed, Cerise is the same age as Hunter.

Who knows, I think there was something bigger going on.

eh?? Hunter has a little sister?? i had no idea

but you're definitely on to something...

i don't think it would have been intentional to imply that Cerise would be the Wolf and someone else Red Riding Hood, per se; i feel like the point of her arc in the books is the struggle of having a dual identity, with no clear resolution. in that case, it probably wouldn't have been necessary to consider an actual solution to the dilemma... but i wouldn't put anything past the mind of an author; it's possible she did write in all those references on purpose.

then again, knowing how author vs reader interpretations often work, it's also entirely possible the pieces fit together coincidentally. regardless, i think it's a really interesting idea 👀

previously, i’d always assumed Cerise would be destined to be Red, and some other Wolf would take over her father’s job. that might have been what they were planning, since they chose to present Cerise as Red’s daughter (which is an interesting choice in and of itself—ig bc Cerise doesn’t have a wolf form and, ofc, it’s the hero that gets the happy ending).

there are just so many other iffy variables tho… like how Badwolf was supposed to die (as Red recounts in TUOTA), but well, he didn’t, and as far as the fairytale world seems to know he doesn’t have an heir, so how did that just slide? then Ramona came along and solved that issue, but raised some new ones in the process… yeah idk, i may be going in circles here lol

also yeah, in the original story we have the age gap present between BBW and RRH, but ofc we know that Cerise’s parents were in the same class. not to mention age stuff gets all wonky thanks to the destiny system to begin with—what with Apple and Raven being in the same generation, other characters not being quite the right age for some events in their stories, etc.

i wish we could have met Fern in the books or wherever, tho… then we’d have more to go off 🤔 and then maybe there wouldn’t be a need for Ramona to exist

[thecheshireninja]

Since Sleeping Beauty is your favorite fairytale, may I ask your thoughts of each of the relationship between Sleeping Beauty and the Fairy from different Sleeping Beauty? Disney, Maleficent, Twisted Wonderland, Descendants, and EAH.

so Sleeping Beauty isn’t my #1 favorite (tho it certainly is among the big five); that would be HCA’s “The Wild Swans” which is not as famous due to its lack of representation in popular media :((

but this is an interesting question! rambles under the cut

Maleficent and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (1959): these two don't have a personal relationship like the others; Aurora is a completely innocent victim to an act of pettiness. Maleficent's arbitrary punishment seals her fate from infancy, and there's nothing she nor anyone else can do about it.

Maleficent and Aurora from Maleficent: what is there to say about them? They're perfect; I have no notes.

Mal and Audrey from Descendants: honestly, this one was just odd. Audrey's character was pretty much doomed to lose (familiar much?) the moment Mal came sailing in with her magic potion plan. I can't help feeling sorry for her because I really think Ben was the problem :/ I don't remember much of the girls' actual interactions, especially from the third movie, but I will say this is easily the least interesting dynamic to me on this list, since it's not a trope I'm fond of.

Malleus and Silver from Twisted Wonderland: I really like how Maleficent's pettiness is scaled up in Malleus's character as a form of--dare I say--childishness? Childlike naivety? Something of the sort. However it doesn't really come into play in his relationship with Silver. I feel that relationship is more defined by their expected roles--Malleus as the lord and Silver as the servant--and I... can't think of any particular interactions or elements of their dynamic that stand out to me. They're cool with each other and I'm cool with that. I'd like to see their relationship develop more in the future, though, since so far their growth has been largely disconnected with each other in spite of the connections between their history. It feels to me as if the story has chosen to move on from it, but since it's yet ongoing I'll reserve my judgment.

Briar Beauty and Faybelle Thorne from Ever After High: I'm of the popular opinion that there was a lot of potential for their dynamic. But there is very little for me to go off in canon, so their friendship has never been convincing to me. I always got the impression that it's somewhat one-sided, as I can't imagine Briar would be 100% comfortable being friends with the girl who's destined to be responsible for her greatest nightmare (especially because Faybelle is extra-invested in claiming her destiny since the Evil Queen stole her parent's role). This post first got me thinking about that and goes into more detail. It's also of course interesting to consider that Faybelle (assuming fairies have longer lifespans) might therefore be one of the few friends Briar would meet again post-curse, and taking that into account, I think Faybelle's ostensibly cavalier attitude sort of hearkens back to the pettiness of the original Dark Fairy, plus a dash of naivety. Because how could she expect Briar to be truly comforted by that? Faybelle has the high ground here; she can afford to stop and smell the roses, while Briar only sees herself surrounded by thorns. wow where did that come from Anyway I love the inherent dreadfulness of their relationship, even if it was never explored in the series itself.

[thecheshireninja]

i really wish we had more blondie-centric content... like, as a kid i didn't like her that much bc she was always getting into everybody's business without actually seeming to care about people themselves (which i don't think is necessarily true--the webisode where she "helps" Raven with her date made me rethink her--and there may be more instances that i just don't remember or haven't read about, such as in the Suzanne Selfors books).

this girl who tries so hard to fit a label she doesn't think she belongs in... i'm not sure if it was ever confirmed exactly why? i can guess--for sure, she probs wants to be tight with the cool kids and idk she kinda radiates the vibes of being proud that she's "officially" besties with the most popular girls in school--but there could have been more to it that would have been so interesting to explore. she clearly does not want to be a Royal because she's madly in love with her story; it's definitely for status and social reasons. plus my girl is a career woman

i think at her core blondie might have had the potential to be one of the most relatable characters in the series, for a variety of reasons, and it's a shame they didn't develop it more in canon.

[thecheshireninja]

Seeing both versions of Sleeping Beauty (Briar and Silver) as the main characters is cool since out of all the fairytale stories, Sleepy Beauty is barely a main character in which their role is being cursed into slumber only by a kiss. Love how you gave them some importance to the story as they have depths and character more than Sleepy Beauty. Not throwing shade on Sleepy Beauty.

it’s true that sleeping beauty is one of the most passive fairytale princesses. in the years when fractured-fairytale type stories were getting popular (same time as EAH), the sleeping aspect was often written off as a silly quirk or general mark of uselessness. and tbh, the original fairytale (either Grimm or Perrault, or if you’re even looking back to Talia Sun & Moon, which is considered its oldest variation) doesn’t do much to help.

but the premise of the story itself sets up so much room for development, which imo is the beauty of fairytales and the retelling thereof. both Briar and Silver are cursed with chronically falling asleep anytime anywhere, and both of them hate it.

there’s something tragic about the heroine who is cursed from birth to lose track of time, and can’t do anything to escape it (no matter how her parents tried, even in the original fairytale). we see this with Briar, who is close friends with people outside her kingdom—people she’s doomed to lose forever at the prick of a finger. Silver, too, is a human raised by a long-life species, forced to spend his days knowing that his time with them is so limited in the full scope of their long lifespans. both of them are constantly running out of time, constantly trying their hardest to grasp what precious little they have and cherish it to the fullest—and yet they keep losing so much of it to sleep.

Imo? sleeping beauty is the best embodiment of the curse of destiny in Ever After. even in the original fairytale the princess cannot escape her fate, no matter how hard she or her parents try. that’s why Briar has such a strong character in EAH. twst explores this in much less depth because it isn’t about fate, but silver’s circumstances set him up for a similar conflict.

and yes. sleeping beauty is one of my favorite fairytales, and aurora is my favorite disney princess 😭 so it’s really no surprise that Briar and Silver are two of my favorite characters.

(also, just to clarify, sleeping beauty is cursed to fall asleep by pricking her finger on a spindle. in the Grimm version she is woken by a kiss; in Perrault’s she wakes up simply after 100 years pass.)

[thecheshireninja]

Yeah I agree with Ramona and the other last-gen girls. I don't really hate them but they were more like last-minute and one-dimensional. Meeshell being just shy, Jillian just fearless, and so on that there is no other personalities.

I guess if Ever After High wasn't canceled, I'm sure they would have given them some development as I can imagine there would be Cerise Hood special of her and the her wolf heritage (She does deserves a special given she has a cool background and her birth is considered questionable). Like besides Ramona, Farrah seems to have some character development of how she felt about wishes and being a good fairy even having interaction with Faybelle as they are cheerleaders. I even read her doll diary of how she is able to find a loophole regarding Ashlynn's destiny.

It's really unfair for the last-gen girls. Like if you compare Faybelle who first introduced in the third season, people got the idea that is she is the villainous fairy that will cursed the princess for 100 years. The audience expected her to be bad but as many shorts later, we seen how vulnerable she could have been taken Poppy's place if she were acted nicely. It's also cool that there some students with villainous destinies are royals and wanted to be bad which is weird in the early EAH where royals and rebels is basically royalties and commoners, which makes Blondie the most odd girl out. It is kinda why I like how some princes and princesses are rebels like Darling and Rosabella while non-royals like Faybelle are royals.

It is also the same with non-last generation girls when they first started. Lizzie debuted as a selfish woman but she grown to be kind girl who wanted to be a good queen and Briar was considered a party girl until Thronecoming of how she realized how her destiny will be like. We also understand why Duchess acted like a mean girl because she has an unfair destinies while the rest do even those who rebelled and there are times she can be kind. Even Humphrey has character development from two shorts, one from helping Duchess and one from conquering his fear of heights.

It is also why Epic Winter is the least favorite special and how Crystal has given a special who is just debuted and worst how the quest is finding the flowers from each kingdom (which is a bit boring) and Ashylnn and Rosabella being shoved to the special all because they are her childhood friends. The only reasons many people still watched it is because of Faybelle and Daring and Rosabella relationship.

I am sure the last-generation girls would have given development if it haven't been for the cancelation. Like I can imagine Ramona to be like Red Riding Hood more than the Big Bad Wolf which is contrast to Cerise who is more like the Big Bad Wolf or Meeshell is shy is because of an unfair destiny and she's afraid to be with people knowing her fate. Farrah could be someone who felt people rely too much on her wishes that they didn't bother to help themselves to improve.

oh yeah, the late-gen girls' lack of development can definitely be attributed to the show's cancellation.

but it's also true that by the end of Ever After High's run, the storytelling had started going all over the place. Dragon Games was such a wild special that it should have changed a lot for the world and series, but--as Epic Winter showed us--it didn't. and the new characters that were introduced in that era suffered for it.

i love Farrah! she's the best-developed 2015 character imo, simply because she's given a clear internal conflict that is shown to actually struggle with. the thing about wanting to help Ashlynn makes it even better <3 Meeshell had her own book which makes her a different case, but it was not enough to really solidify her character imo? (plus they cheapened her potential by altering her story, which is no fun at all because, as I've said before, she could have foiled Duchess Swan, whose destiny remained tragic.) i've always been bitter about Justine and Jillian not having more screentime because i love their designs, and there's so much lore that would make their development so cool.

to think about it another way--all of the original characters, and most of those that were introduced before 2015, were decently developed because we had insights into their internal conflict. that's why they are so lovable and relatable, because each of them, from a queen-bee character like Apple to even puppet-like Cedar, have a key struggle that anchors their characters. (... probably the only exception i can think of off the top of my head is Daring.) unlike the later characters, who feel to me as if they are defined by a certain set of personality traits (the profiles were changed in the later years to include "powerful qualities" which was an interesting decision), the older ones are just messes of wishes, quirks, flaws, and secrets. you can examine them through so many different viewpoints--from their stances, their own views informed by destiny's influence, personalities, actions, and so on. the inherent contradictions built into their characters make them so much more fascinating.

when i think of Lizzie Hearts, i think of the shouty, fierce, and uptight future Queen of Hearts--but i also think of the quiet, confused girl inside who wants nothing more than to see her mother again. but ask me to describe Nina Thumbell, and all i can really tell you is she's... brave? and likes to explore?

okay, upon checking the wiki i have now also discovered that she is an environmentalist. so... cool, i guess. that still tells me nothing about her character.

i agree that at this point, it's really up to the fans to decide for themselves how to characterize the remainder of the cast :)